Lighting apparatus for dental surgeries



July 21, 1959 E. QUETlN 2,896,066

LIGHTING APPARATUS FOR DENTAL SURGERIES Filed June 10, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 HTTY.

July 21, 1959 v E. QUETlN LIGHTING APPARATUS FOR DENTAL SURGERIES Fild June 10, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Arr United States Patent LIGHTING APPARATUS "FOR DENTAL SURGERIES Emmanuel .Quetin, Paris, France Application June 10, .1951, Serial N0. 664,787 Claims .priority.,.application France June 21, 1956 3 Claims. 01. 240-14 The present invention has for its object improvements in lighting apparatus for dental surgeries (doctors, stomatologists).

In dental surgeries, increasing use is being made of special orientable lighting apparatus for the purpose of intra-buccal scialitic illumination, that is to say lighting which casts no shadows. This intra-buccal lighting must be capable of easy adjustment.

In addition to the intra-buccal lighting, there is often added a general illumination, especially by luminescent tubes The present invention relates to a dual-purpose orientatable lighting apparatus of this type which comprises improvements intended to provide a more definite and more convenient manipulation of the apparatus.

When the general lighting is constituted by an annual luminescent tube concentric with the intra-buccal illumination lamp, this apparatus is characterised in that the supply and control members for the two lighting systems are grouped together in the internal zone of the annular tube with their control members arranged externally to the apparatus in the vicinity of its operating handle. By means of this arrangement, the operating members, instead of being separate from the apparatus itself as is the usual practice, are assembled together inside the apparatus, making it a self-contained unit. All the controls are located within easy reach of the operators hand, thus facilitating the operations. There is obtained an apparatus which is smoothly and easily handled, comrising all the advantages of the usual apparatus without their drawbacks.

The adjustment of the focus of the intra-buccal illumination lamp is efl'fected by displacement of the lamp by means of a toothed rack and pinion assembly, the pinion being conected by a double cardan transmission to the operating handle.

The accompanying drawings show one form of embodiment of the lighting apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 1 shows the general arrangement of the lighting apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a view of the apparatus in axial cross-section.

Fig. 3 is a view in cross-section at right angles to that preceding, taken along the line III-III of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view from above, taken along the line IV-IV of Fig. 2 with a part broken away.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the assembly of the intra-buccal illumination lamp.

In the apparatus, the sources of light are arranged in the usual manner inside a casing in the form of a dome, which is pivotally-mounted on a stirrup-piece 11, which is pivotally coupled to the arm 12 by a pivotal joint 13. This joint 13 makes connection with the stirrup 11 by means of a swivel device 55, 56, 57 as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The arm 12 is articulated at 14 on a pivot 15 which rotates on a support 16. This support 16 may be fixed rigidly to the usual dental equipment, or

"ice it may form part of a wall-fitting, or it may be arranged in any other manner.

Bythe action of the pivots 13 and 14 and of the stirruppiece 11, the dome 10 may be brought into any desired positionand, by a balancing device on the arm 12, it will remain in that position in a stable manner. An operating handle is provided at 17.

The lighting apparatus proper (see Figs. 2 to 4) is of \the scialitic type, that is to say it provides a beam of light for intra-bucca'l illumination without casting any shadows. It comprises .a source constituted by a low-voltage lamp 18 mounted on the axis and surrounded by a cylindrical diffusing glass 19 and an annular lens 20. The rays emitted by the lamp 18 are concentrated by the lens 20 on the reflector 21, which produces the conical annular beam of light for intra-buccal illumination.

Around the lamp 18 is mounted a source of light for general illumination, constituted by a luminescent tube 22. The whole assembly is mounted inside a rear dome or casing 23 of opal plastic material which forms the casing, extended by a support 24 to which is fixed the front cover 25 of a curved glass, with a ground finish at its centre.

For the purpose of focusing, the lamp 18 is mounted in a sliding socket 26 which carries a rod 27 provided with a rack engaging with the pinion 28. The pinion 28 is driven by a shaft 29 coupled by two cardan joints 30 and 31 to the shaft 3-2 of the operating handle 33.

The supply members for the two sources of light 18 and 22 are grouped together in the central part of the apparatus, all the controls being brought together within easy reach of the users hand.

Around the axial support of the lamp 18 are mounted: the transformer 34 which supplies the lamp 18 with lowtension current, controlled by the switch 35; the starter 36 and the inductance 37 supplying the luminescent tube 22, the circuit of which is controlled by the switch 38; the suport 39 with a fuse 40 provided to permit the use of a number of supply voltages. This assembly is carried by a plate 41 with a cover 42.

As can be seen, all the members which supply current to the sources of light and their controls are located in the interior of the lighting apparatus itself, which makes the latter a self-contained unit and reduces the overall size to a minimum.

The current-supply wires 43 are passed through one of the pivots of the stirrup-piece 11 into one of the arms of this latter. They pass internally along the arm 12 and the support 16 to the current-supply source. No wires are visible.

The lighting apparatus thus constituted is fixed to an articulated supporting arm which permits of its orientation in all directions. Such an arm is preferably balanced with compensation so as to keep the lighting apparatus fixed in any position in which it is placed by the user.

What I claim is:

l. A dual lighting apparatus for dental surgery comprising a pivotally mounted articulated arm, a stirrup rotatably carried by said arm, a casing pivotally supported by the stirrup, an operating handle attached to the forward edge of the casing for moving the casing in all directions, an intra-buccal sciaslytic electric lamp centrally located within the casing, a support within the casing supporting said lamp, a reflector fixedly mounted within the forward portion of the casing, means within the casing for focusing the lamp in relation to the refiector for producing a focused concentrated beam of light for intra-buccal illumination, a luminescent tubular lamp for general lighting surrounding said first-mentioned lamp and caried by the support, a transformer, starter, inductance, and fuse for the luminescent tubular switches for independently operating the lamps mounted on the casing in the vicinity of the casing operating handle, and electric supply wires passing through the arm, stirrup, and casing and having connections with said lamps within the casing and being hidden from view.

2. A dual lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the support comprises a plate and a dome-shaped cover enclosing the transformer, starter, inductance, and fuse and a light-transmitting cover closing the front of the casing.

3. A dual lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 2, 15

wherein the focusing means comprise a rack and pinion and rods having universal joints with said rack and pinion and with the handle which operates the focusing means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,909,947 Greppin May 23, 1933 2,114,664 Gelb Apr. 19, 1938 2,173,325 Alexander Sept. 19, 1939 2,226,300 Alexander Dec. 24, 1940 2,433,982 Clarkson et al I an. 6, 1948 2,494,058 Ries et al. Jan. 10, 1950 2,665,369 Greppin Jan. 5, 1954 

